Group

Dr. Noah Diffenbaugh is the Kara J Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at Stanford University. He studies the climate system, including the processes by which climate change could impact agriculture, water resources, and human health. Dr. Diffenbaugh is currently Editor-in-Chief of the peer-review journal Geophysical Research Letters. He has served as a Lead Author for Working Group II of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and has provided testimony and scientific expertise to the White House, the Governor of California, and U.S. Congressional offices. Dr. Diffenbaugh is a recipient of the James R. Holton Award from the American Geophysical Union, a CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, and a Terman Fellowship from Stanford University. He has also been recognized as a Kavli Fellow by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and as a Google Science Communication Fellow.

Journal Manuscript Referee, International Journal of Climatology, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Journal of Climate (2003 - Present)

Co-Chair, Climate of the Last Glacial-Interglacial Cycle: New Insights From Models and Data, AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 8-12, American Geophysical Union (2003 - 2003)

Education

Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz, Earth Sciences (2003)

M.S., Stanford University, Earth Systems (1997)

B.S., Stanford University, Earth Systems (1997)

Research & Scholarship

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

The Climate and Earth System Dynamics Group is led by Prof. Noah S. Diffenbaugh. Our research takes an integrated approach to understanding climate dynamics and climate impacts by probing the interface between physical processes and natural and human vulnerabilities. This interface spans a range of spatial and temporal scales, and a number of climate system processes. Much of the group's work has focused on the role of fine-scale processes in shaping climate change impacts, including studies of extreme weather, water resources, agriculture, human health, and poverty vulnerability.

We use the present vulnerabilities of natural and human systems to identify the climate phenomena that exert the most direct and acute influence on climate-sensitive systems. We then employ a suite of numerical modeling and data analysis techniques to understand why those physical phenomena occur in the current climate, by what mechanisms those physical phenomena are likely to respond to changes in climate “forcing”, and how those physical responses could impact humanity and other life. Employing this approach across a range of climate-sensitive systems has led to insights about (1) the importance of fine-scale climate processes in shaping the pattern and magnitude of climate change, (2) the importance of interactions between physical processes and human dimensions in shaping the impacts of climate change, and (3) the likelihood that high-impact climate change will occur locally and regionally at different levels of global warming.

Our ongoing research activities are directed at answering a suite of specific questions about the interaction of physical climate processes and climate-sensitive systems. These questions include:

- What are the climate phenomena that most impact natural and human systems?

- What physical processes control the frequency and severity of those phenomena at present?

- How do those physical processes respond to changes in forcing of the climate system (such as from changes in greenhouse gas concentrations or variations in Earth’s orbit)?

- How are natural and human systems likely to be impacted by changes in those physical processes?

Anthropogenic warming has increased drought risk in California.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaDiffenbaugh, N. S., Swain, D. L., Touma, D.2015; 112 (13): 3931-3936

Projected changes in African easterly wave intensity and track in response to greenhouse forcingPROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICASkinner, C. B., Diffenbaugh, N. S.2014; 111 (19): 6882-6887

Nonhydrostatic nested climate modeling: A case study of the 2010 summer season over the western United StatesJOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERESLebassi-Habtezion, B., Diffenbaugh, N. S.2013; 118 (19): 10944-10962

Robust increases in severe thunderstorm environments in response to greenhouse forcingPROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICADiffenbaugh, N. S., Scherer, M., Trapp, R. J.2013; 110 (41): 16361-16366

Nonhydrostatic nested climate modeling: A case study of the 2010 summer season over the western United StatesJournal of Geophysical Research AtmospheresLebassi-Habtezion, B., Diffenbaugh, N. S.2013; 118: 10,944–10,962

Climate variability, climate change, and wine production in the western United StatesClimate Change in Western North America: Evidence and Environmental EffectsWhite, M. A., Jones, G. V., Diffenbaugh, N. S.edited by Wagner, F. H.University of Utah Press.2009

Indicators of 21st century socioclimatic exposurePROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICADiffenbaugh, N. S., Giorgi, F., Raymond, L., Bi, X.2007; 104 (51): 20195-20198

Extreme heat reduces and shifts United States premium wine production in the 21st centuryPROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAWhite, M. A., Diffenbaugh, N. S., Jones, G. V., Pal, J. S., Giorgi, F.2006; 103 (30): 11217-11222

Fine-scale processes regulate the response of extreme events to global climate changePROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICADiffenbaugh, N. S., Pal, J. S., Trapp, R. J., Giorgi, F.2005; 102 (44): 15774-15778

Could CO2-induced land-cover feedbacks alter near-shore upwelling regimes?PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICADiffenbaugh, N. S., Snyder, M. A., Sloan, L. C.2004; 101 (1): 27-32

Mid-Holocene orbital forcing of regional-scale climate: a case study of western North America using a high-resolution RCMJournal of ClimateDiffenbaugh, N. S., Sloan, L. C.2004; 17: 2927-2937